Anaheim Police Buy a $755,000 Nyxcell Cell Site Simulator
At a meeting of the Anaheim City Council on June 9, 2020, the Anaheim City Council approved the $755,000 purchase of a Nyxcell cell site simulator (CSS) from Tactical Support Equipment by a vote of 6-0-1, with Councilmember Jose Moreno abstaining because he felt he needed to learn more about how the CSS was used in the past. Although the name of the cell site simulator is redacted in documents, we were able to confirm that it is manufactured by Nyxcell.
Cell site simulators are used by law enforcement to track the location of cellular phones. They work by pretending to be a cell phone tower to which nearby cell phones will connect. Once connected to the CSS, the CSS obtains information unique to the cellular phone that allows it to be tracked. In order to connect to a target cell phone, the CSS is typically installed in a vehicle and once the cell phone is tracked to a general location, a handheld device is used to track the cell phone to a specific room or person. A CSS can also be used to eavesdrop on phone calls and text messages. The EFF has more information about how cell site simulators work.
https://www.cehrp.org/anaheim-police-bu ... simulator/
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San Bernardino County approved the purchase of a Nyxcell cell site simulator on December 17, 2019, for $636,500.
https://sanbernardino.legistar.com/Legi ... 99C9F445F7
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Fontana Police (CA) used a cell site simulator 86 times in 2018, 196 times in 2019, and 109 times so far in 2020.
Fontana PD's cell site simulator was used without a warrant twice in 2018, five times in 2019, and three times so far in 2020.
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Director of Research, CeHRP, focused on law enforcement surveillance technologies (ALPR, StingRay, etc).
https://twitter.com/mlacabe
https://www.cehrp.org